Conflagration
by Innocent Fox
Summary: An international PMC operative takes on a mission so dangerous it will not only threaten him, but the enitre planet. Can he stop the outbreak of World War III? Contains strong violence, language amd torture.


**Conflagration**

Foliage flew as Xianyong Bai swung the machete through the forest, leaves rustled as he moved through the bushes and trees with quick avail. Sounds of the enemy surrounded his position, guns slapping against their chests as they ran against the wind. Rain scattered across the air, hitting the branches and soil beneath Xianyong, oxygen flagging, he took out a pistol, diving to his stomach. The voices continued shouting Mandarin angrily at each.

Bang.

A well aimed shot hit one of the soldiers in the side of his head, ripping his ear away and spraying blood on to a rock nearby, collapsing to the dirt.

Two of the soldiers turned to see their fallen comrade fall, calling out to Xianyong in the wet. He moved across to an isolated enemy, taking his machete out and cutting the back of the soldiers shin, making the enemy crouch down in agony. Xianyong pulled the soldiers shirt towards him, slitting the Chinese mans neck. Thinking quickly, Xianyong rolled on to his back, pulling a grenade off of his belt and flinging it into the haze.

Boom.

Muck flew up in the two remaining soldiers faces. They flung backwards, their limbs splitting off of them like twigs. The rain settled, sunlight shone through as Xianyong hopped on to a quad bike he had hidden nearby, the engine started and a mountainous road awaited him.

Wind picked up suddenly and Xianyong swerved round a corner, turning his neck and staring at the spinning rotors of an army helicopter. As it flew low, Xianyong tried to outmanoeuvre the blades which were alternating between carving the concrete road and turning. A machine gunner fired an assault rifle, the muzzle flash reflecting frantically in his helmet. Two bullets hit Xianyong's fuel tank, petrol poured as he slowed, leaping off the quad at the last possible moment.

Xianyong's leap into a ditch at the side of the road provided ample cover for the explosion, rubble showering the helicopter that hovered metres above. Xianyong pulled out the pistol again, gripping it firmly before letting a shot out. The first hit the co-pilot, injuring him. The second missed any target, shattering a small piece of the windscreen. The pilot lowered the helicopter to the ground and engaged the turrets, continually firing rounds at the ditch. Xianyong curled up and shook, waiting for the lead to hit him just before he had an idea. He grabbed a stolen smoke grenade and flung it, it landed nearby the helicopter, Xianyong made a run as the turrets rotated furiously.

The pilot pulled his combat knife, eager to make do of the mercenary. But it was too late, he heard death from the machine gunner, then Xianyong was holding the gun to the pilot's head, opening his mouth to speak.

"Call them off." Xianyong spoke without haste.

"No…I won't…you are a disgrace to your nation. Scum." The pilot's voice quivered with both rage and terror.

"Either you call them off, or I blow half your face off and…kill your friend next to you."

The co-pilot groaned queasily, Xianyong told him to shut up before turning his attention back to the pilot.

"I expect you to do as I ask now." Xianyong's voice was cold, unremitting and willing to kill for his job.

"Ha, you make me laugh. How you say…fuck you?" The pilot laughed on before a loud ringing in his left ear and blood splatter covering his face made him silence. The dead co-pilot lay in his seat, red weeping from the hole in his skull staining his collar.

"Insulting me will only end in your death; I don't care about you, or this godforsaken country. Call them off." Sternness flowed from his mouth, forcing the pilot to do as he was told. The pilot spoke Chinese into his radio, with a positive reply coming from the base.

"There, are you-"

Xianyong shot him through the back of his head.

As Xianyong moved on down the road, the company picked him up eagerly, ushering him into the Jeep. The director of the private military company was awaiting him.

"Xianyong, the job you did here was terrific, brilliant in fact. Most of us here are still astounded that the pilot wouldn't give in for so long. Did he really believe you were going to leave him?"

"Yes, I am sure he did. His beliefs were…skewered at best, and psychotic at worst. In the end, he was just a man." Xianyong's cool, calculating manner was the reason he was a top player at the Logical Coalition, he rarely, if ever got angry, taking out targets with little fuss, never trying to barter payments, never disobedient and intelligent unlike some of his compatriots.

"I always did like your style Xianyong! Say, the heat for an all-out Asian war is turning up here. What I'm about to ask you is…risky to say the least."

Xianyong's eyes slowly turned in their sockets.

"Please continue sir."

"I want you to turn this heat up further. To boiling point."

The director continued speaking in his mid-western drawl.

"You are going to be the light to this fuse Xianyong; you are going to make us a lot of money."

"You…do realise nuclear weaponry is a…real threat if this war were to happen, right?" Xianyong's forehead began to glisten with sweat.

"Xianyong, I realise the capability of North Korea, or should I say, the United Federation of Korea at this point."

Xianyong's face turned from anxiousness to curiosity.

"United Federation of Korea?"

"Yes, they signed a treaty Xianyong, this morning. I shall paraphrase the statement given by them; I think it said something like, 'We shall stand against any threat directed towards us, this pact marks a historical union…' you get the picture."

Xianyong was eager to know more, yet reluctant to actually trust the information given. It was however, true, North Korea had been threatened by China as its nuclear stockpile had risen in 2009, US government also declared North Korea as going down a dangerous route as the UN would provide swift action against any nuclear arms being developed. Despite its best efforts, two years on, the world was growing tired of the UN's feeble attempts to rid a nation of militants of the most powerful weapons known to man, boycotts took place outside UN Headquarters and the UN ordered a full investigation into North Korea to regain public trust. After the investigation was finally allowed in 2011, South Korea shocked the world by jumping to North Korea's aid, stating that they were conducting research, they were not for assault. The news that they had actually rejoined as one nation shocked Xianyong to the core, as an international field agent, his Chinese roots were useful in gaining trust in Asian nations but they had come at a price, he was once enslaved as an operative for a now disbanded PMC, he was stuck in North Korea on his own. The North Korean guards always spoke of their disdain for the South before Xianyong found his own way out, escaping back to China. He hated everything about North Korea and didn't want them being involved in any war.

"Xianyong, we're dropping you in North Korea tomorrow."

"Okay, but why am I here? Fighting my own kind?"

"Like I said Xianyong, to turn the heat up on all sides."

"Are the US going to be involved? Or Britain? What about Japan or...or Malaysia?"

"These questions can be answered with a resounding no so far for the first two. Japan will undoubtedly get involved but Malaysia…they're a dark horse, so possibly."

"Right sir, equipment check?"

"Early hours of tomorrow, on board the jet, you're going to parachute into the drop zone shortly afterwards. Any further questions whilst I'm here?"

"Just one. How do you know I won't start World War Three?"

"The answer to that question is…I don't know if you will or will not I'm afraid. I trust you, as does the entirety of LogiCo, Xianyong."

Xianyong tried to take it all in, but he couldn't, he simply accepted his mission as they drove to a nearby base of operations.


End file.
